WORKSHOP CulturalRoad – Shaping the Future of Equitable CCAM Deployment
On Thursday, March 20th, the first workshop of the CulturalRoad project took place online. With over 50 people attending, the session introduced the project to the audience, its goals, expected outcomes, and timeline while fostering engagement among stakeholders and gathering valuable insights to refine its direction.
CulturalRoad, a project funded by the European Union, integrates cultural and geographical diversity into Connected, Cooperative, and Automated Mobility (CCAM). The project aims to enhance social acceptance for this technology and promote safe, inclusive, and sustainable mobility. In this context, the workshop brought together key stakeholders, including public authorities, industry representatives, researchers, and community organizations, who shared perspectives on how to achieve the marked objectives.
The importance of geographical context in CCAM deployment
John Paddington (ERTICO) opened the workshop by highlighting the need of considering geographical diversity in CCAM deployment. He asked critical questions such as: Why is the geographical context important? and How do we design mobility services that adapted to people with different needs? To illustrate this, he referenced San Francisco, where local conditions impact the adoption and efficiency of CCAM solutions.
The Five-Pointed Star Rating system (FPRS)
Then, Guido Cantelmo introduced the Five-Pointed Star Rating System (FPSRS), the approach the project will be using to evaluate CCAM equity. This holistic system assesses five key pillars, listed below:
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- Safety
- Inclusivity
- User acceptance
- Network readiness
- Psychological factors
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Afterwards, Margarita Martinez (UPC) emphasized that the FPSRS is a tool that must be universally applicable across municipal, regional, and national levels. She also highlighted the need for flexible Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) to assess each pillar tailored to each context’s characteristics and needs. The project has stablished a list from its beginning, but its development will require an adaptive framework for the definition of new specific ones.
Co-Creation Methodology
Guido Cantelmo (DTU) then explained CulturalRoad’s co-creation methodology, structured in two key aspects of involvement:
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- Engaging stakeholders: Municipalities, service providers, and public authorities collaborate to shape a shared vision for CCAM deployment.
- Involving end-users: After defining the broader strategy, citizen input will be collected to align CCAM services with their real needs and expectations.
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This approach ensures that CCAM is not imposed top-down but developed in response to local demands, as end-users are included within the process.
Challenges and solutions identified in breakout sessions
During the workshop, participants joined breakout rooms facilitated by project partners to discuss challenges and potential solutions for CCAM deployment focused around specific questions that led the conversation. Key takeaways included:
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- Public fear and acceptance: Yaniv Shmuel, from Eliat, noted that many people remain wary of CCAM due to concerns about technology replacing human drivers. A proposed solution involves running pilot programs where people experience automated transport first-hand, but with remote assistance. This would mitigate the fear of using these vehicles, as users also lack a reference person to ask their doubts to.
- Existing infrastructure and legal frameworks: Ruth Anderson, pointed out that integrating CCAM with existing public transport requires collaboration with bus drivers, ensuring they can guide passengers and address legal concerns about liability.
- Trust and inclusivity: Bruna Franceschini from the Portuguese NGO Cáritas Coimbra, stressed the importance of co-creation projects that actively involve older populations in CCAM discussions. She suggested using role models from diverse age groups to increase trust and social acceptance.
- Urban vs. rural accessibility: Apostulos Akopolos, research associate at the National Technical University of Athens, highlighted the uneven distribution of transport services between rural and urban areas. He called for targeted CCAM solutions that ensure rural areas are not left behind.
- Physical barriers in automated transport: Guido Cantelmo raised concerns about the absence of human drivers to assist passengers with reduced mobility (PRM). Ensuring CCAM systems incorporate accessibility measures, such as automatic ramps, is crucial. If there is no driver, the system will need to have a measure to detect that the accessibility ramp will have to be deployed, for example.
- Financial considerations: John Paddington cautioned against implementing CCAM services without conducting feasibility studies. He emphasized that financial resources should first be allocated to understanding user needs before launching large-scale deployments.
- Service reliability: George Yannis, Professor at National Technical University of Athens, noted that many new mobility services start with high standards but later decline as they establish market dominance. He stressed the need for continuous service improvements to maintain reliability.
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Next Steps
The workshop concluded with a final poll using the Mentimeter platform, gathering feedback on priority areas for CulturalRoad. The insights from this session will directly contribute to refining the pilot demonstrations, taking place in the cities of Barcelona, Karlsruhe, Eilat, Ljubljana, and Oxfordshire. Agostina Massari (IRF) and John Paddington closed the session by outlining the next steps, emphasizing continued stakeholder engagement, refinement of the FPRS, and upcoming pilot deployments. Interested people can contact them the following email: amassarini@irfnet.ch.
Additionally, the workshop will provide insights for later implementation in the demonstration sites, where CARNET will lead the evaluation efforts. CARNET’s role will be key in assessing the socio-economic impact of CCAM, refining deployment strategies, and ensuring that the solutions developed align with real-world needs.
As CulturalRoad keeps advancing, these insights will play a vital role in shaping equitable, inclusive, and sustainable CCAM solutions that cater to diverse populations across Europe, as collaboration is one of the main features of this project, and the consortium is ensuring that diverse stakeholders are included along the multiple phases of the development.
